Russian defense officials are boasting about a standoff with a British warship in the Black Sea, irritating London by claiming to have fired warning shots at the United Kingdom’s vessel.
“The destroyer had been warned that weapons would be used if it trespasses the border of the Russian Federation,” the Russian defense ministry said. “It did not react to the warning.”
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Russian officials maintain that the HMS Defender, a guided-missile destroyer, crossed into their waters and refused to leave until warning shots and even a bombing run had been conducted by a Russian fighter jet. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace dismissed the claim as a cartoonish account of events.
“We believe the Russians were undertaking a gunnery exercise in the Black Sea and provided the maritime community with prior warning of their activity,” Wallace said in a report to British lawmakers. “No shots were directed at HMS Defender, and we do not recognize the claim that bombs were dropped in her path.”
Russian officials played up their supposed repulsion of the British ship. “I do hope that after such a punch, there will be no more attempts to venture into our territory without permission,” said Kremlin lawyer Alexander Molokhov, who focuses on legal issues related to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
That bellicose rhetoric comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is making an overture to Western European leaders of the European Union in an apparent bid to expand diplomatic relations between Moscow and the EU, which no longer includes the U.K., at the expense of NATO, the transatlantic security bloc.
“It is exactly with this logic in mind – the logic of building a Greater Europe united by common values and interests – that Russia has sought to develop its relations with the Europeans. Both Russia and the EU have done a lot on this path,” Putin wrote in an op-ed published in German media. “But a different approach has prevailed. It was based on the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance which was itself a relic of the Cold War. After all, it was specifically created for the confrontation of that era.”
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Wallace put the blame for tensions between London and Moscow on the Kremlin, citing especially the attempted assassination of a former Russian intelligence officer in the U.K. — an effort that led to the death of a British civilian who accidentally came into contact with the chemical weapon used by the attackers.
“It is important that Russia recognizes it is actions that matter rather than just words,” Wallace said. “I never forget that a British citizen was murdered by GRU officers.”
